Today I cycled already 600 km since I started, I have been in Taizé and now I am cycling the mountains of the massif central, a beautiful area in the middle of southern France.
I want to take you again along some highlights and challenges that were happening throughout the last days.
here we go
After I left the spot along the Doubs river I cycled towards the city of Besançon. I was very motivated to get through some kilometres as I felt fresh and rejuvenated. Unfortunately I already felt something coming when I realized that the sky got ever more dark and cloudy. It was a great change as the temperatures stayed below 30°. I came into Besançon pretty late for lunchtime, and just as I started to search for a shop it started to rain. I took my raincover out and had to cycle through a complicated one-way road system in order to find one shop closed after the other. As I finally got some food I also found a place to eat under a roof and it started to get really bad.
The rain hammered down and it felt like the sky was falling down. Pretty quick the streets where full of water. Lucky me, I thought, that I found a dry spot. I finished my lunch and wanted to check my route I was deeply shocked about what I saw at my bike.
Can you imagine how I felt in that moment? It was heavily raining and now that: Somehow, I don’t know why as the bag was not heavily loaded, the whole thing was desintegrated.
I was lucky that I could fill the content into my backpack and the other side bag and with that I went to visit two closed bike shops, and luckily later a Decathlon a bit off my route where I could get a new bag. Unfortunately they couldn’t help me to fix the old one. After I came out of the store the clouds finally opened and I used the chance to dry all my things in front of the shop.
That day was my first test, how much could I take? It was a day full of obstacles, later my navigation sent me deep into a forest down the hill on a single trail, just until it got so overgrown that I had to turn around and carry my heavy bike back up over fallen trees and slippery, muddy, wet underground.
I had to laugh at some point as it was clear it might just continue that way and I actually was ok with it. In the end I returned to the route sane and could then sleep on the meadow of a nice guy that I asked along the way.
The next day I started with a short shower in the river close by and I continued my ride. It was a day where I had to cover quite some km as I recognized a mistake in my navigation and I had to still cover 180 km in one full and another half day. So I geared up and cycled pretty fast. I was astonished about the capacity of my body in the fasted state, as I only eat lunch and dinner. That morning I covered about 80 km fasted.
Imagine me getting into these nice bakeries, just to either get a black coffee or in that case a liter of water so I don’t trigger my insulin. I am not able to eat a tiny something, as they are selling only products with sugar, gluten or other stuff I don’t want to eat. I haven’t eaten even a croissant or a pain au chocolat yet and I am in France …
Nevertheless my legs could get me through some 120km that day until I was ready for a rest. I could have continued, but my butt was hurting a lot from all the sitting. Through fasting and staying mostly in ketosis I am recovering pretty fast, I am never waking up with sore legs besides my butt and still my achilles tendon, which to me is really impressive.
At the end of the day I was guided literally by the wind that kept pushing me towards this beautifully encircled spring where I could set up my basecamp and have all my stuff cleaned and take an refreshing ice cold bath.
Taizé
The next morning, with only a few kilometres left, I was perfectly on time for my arrival in Taizé.
I will shorten that part quite a bit as it can be a nice conversation in person if you want to know more about it once I am home. I also didn’t take many pictures as I left my phone in my tent most of the time.
I had a great, calm, recharging time being there and sharing a very simple life, 3 prayer and singing spaces per day, a Bible introduction with one of the brothers and a great study group that we had among the people around 30 years old, with about 500 people that were present after a special week before with around 1800 visitors. It took me some time to get through a layer of uncomfort that I often feel in christian, mostly catholic churches, but after that I was really touched how the brothers had created a deep prayer space that so many people of different religions and spiritual patches could share.
Beeing in the church 3 times a day was a treat for me, as the whole churches floor is completely covered with carpet, one prays sitting on the floor, the design is very simple and the candles in the front are very beautiful. It reminded me of christmas and when the songs started it gave everything a very beautiful touch. I also enjoyed the silent prayers that we then had together, I never sat in prayer with so many people.
Pictures will not capture the feelings I had in the prayers and I took that one from Google as I didn’t want to take any of the ceremony.
I am particularly thankful for the study group we had with different participants from Europe and the sharings we had about questions we got from brother Pedro to think about. We went through some suggestions of brother Alloys, the prior of Taizé, that are concerning our global crises we are in.
I left the place on Wednesday where my study group gave me a nice farewell and I cycled towards the south west. The landscape and architecture kept changing quite a bit and I really enjoyed the old buildings in the countryside.
Only after a few kilometres did I recognize that I left the nice paths along the channels that I could ride smoothly. I went now straight into the massif central and I had to not only cover distances, but also hights, especially very steep slopes.
I was happy I could again sleep at a farmers place that evening, they offered me a shower and water. When I got up the next morning they made coffee and I got a package of very good quality, organic goat cheese. With that I felt much better prepared for the tour and I had a great day of cycling.
Now I am a bit lazy to get up, my upcoming tour has a lot of steep slopes again and in the evening there will be rain and most likely thunder be waiting for me, so I am not willing yet to continue and get out of my cozy sleeping bag. But it was nice to connect with you while writing and I hope you got some insights into my recent experiences. I will now go out to have a quick shower in the creek and get ready for my day.
Thank you for taking time to read, see you next time.
dusty road stories 